Projects

Midleton Dair Ghaelach

Challenge

Midleton Dair Ghaelach, is the first ever Irish whiskey to be finished in virgin Irish Oak Hogsheads. The distillate was matured for between 15 and 22 years in ex-Bourbon casks, which were married together before being filled into native Irish Oak Hogsheads harvested from 130 year old oak trees from Grinsell’s Wood, within the Ballaghtobin Estate in Co. Kilkenny. Genesis was tasked with creating packing for this unique Irish expression which would satisfy the growing appetite among whiskey lovers for new and innovative styles of Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey.

Insight

Irish Oak barrels were previously not used due to the lack of sustainability of Irish Oak. However the recent rejuvenation in the plantation of Irish Oak meant that native oak could be responsibly procured and used for a maturation process that is sustainable in the long term. Moreover, each bottle can be traced back to an individual tree in the Irish estate that the wood was procured from, in this case the Ballaghtobin Estate in Co. Kilkenny.

Solution

We dialed up the use of virgin Irish oak in maturation on the packaging and, by creating the packaging from sustainable materials, we highlighted the truth about the long-term sustainability of the wood. We created an oak coaster for inclusion in the presentation SBC which was carved with the name of the whiskey. We used a tree motif on the secondary pack to emphasis the oak proposition and also included the batch, tree and bottle number to provide traceability and intrigue for the whiskey aficionado.